Huh? What?
by Dakaath
Summary: Short ficlets for the Naruto verse that got stuck in my mind, but weren't quite enough for a longer story.


The Fourth's Legacy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Naruto was often called the Fourth's Legacy, not because Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, was his father, but because the Fourth gave his life to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon away inside him to save the Village Hidden in the Leaves. What most people didn't know was that he was the Fourth's Legacy, for it was planned that way.

When Minato learned of the Fox's attack, he knew that he would die defeating it, that his work would go unfinished. It was that feeling that all experienced ninja get, the feeling that their destiny, their doom, is approaching. Using your own life force makes you much more attuned to it, to know when it will fade, or grow, or when the end approaches. But like all strong ninja, Minato refused to accept his doom. Orochimaru tried to defeat his doom by researching forbidden and sealed techniques on immortality. Jiraiya fought his with two methods, ignoring it, pushing the calling down with booze and women, and by teaching, by passing on all he had to his students so that he would not be forgotten. Like teacher, like student; Minato choose to use Jiraiya's method.

When the Kyuubi drew closer to the Village, and Minato sent out his ninja to stall so that he could prepare, he also put his plan into motion. In the aftermath of the defense and the battle, no one noticed a squad of ANBU, infiltration experts, go missing. They were presumed lost in the battle, incinerated by the Fox's toxic chakra. And so the plan was sent into motion…

Fifteen years later…

"Namikaze"

"Namikaze"

"Namikaze!"

Looking around for the annoying person in order to tell them to shut up and stop calling repeatedly calling out the name of some person who was obviously not paying attention, Naruto was stunned when he came face to face with an older looking man.

"Huh?"

"Namikaze, I must speak with you," the man stated gravely, looking directly at Naruto.

"Look, you obviously made a mistake. I'm Naruto Uzamaki!" announces Naruto, making the good guy pose, "The one who will become Hokage someday, not this Namikaze guy."

"There is no mistake. Your father marked you with a special seal, part of the one holding back the beast, and told all of his most faithful how to sense it."

"My father?" questions Naruto, hesitation and longing both present in his voice.

"Yes your father, we have much to discuss. Do you have somewhere private we can go?"

Nodding, Naruto leads the older ninja to his apartment, where the man proceeds to put down several security seals before turning to face Naruto.

"I am Akame Iwana, personal ninja to the Fourth Hokage, your father."

"What?! My father was the Fourth Hokage! Is this some kind of sick joke? You better leave before I tell the Hokage!" Naruto begins to try and push Akame towards the door.

"I have proof." All of Naruto's bluster and bluff disappears at those words.

"Pr-proof?"

"Yes. Your father left a blood-sealed scroll in our possession before he died, with orders to give it to you one of several conditions were met. The first condition was your entrance into a chuunin exam. We tried to give it to you after that, but between the invasion and your multiple trips outside the village we never got the chance. By the time we heard you were in the exam and managed to get back to the Village, you had already left on your trip. So we continued our mission and waited. Here is the scroll." Reaching inside his vest, Akame pulls out a scroll and then unseals another scroll from it. The new scroll is ornate, covered in seals and drawings. He reverently passes it to Naruto.

Grasping it, Naruto smears some blood on it and it unfurls to nearly three yards in length. Slowly, Naruto begins to read.

_Son, if you are reading this then I am gone and it is up to you to carry on my plan. I hope you have lived a good life up to this point, that the villagers have treated you like a hero, but I am not as naïve and trusting as the Third Hokage, and so I know that might not have been the case. Either way you have my regrets that things turned out like this. But now it is time for you to face your destiny._

_Hopefully one of my loyal ninjas has given this to you, and you have not received it through other back-up plans put in place. I will start at the beginning._

_I have always believed in peace, something that I am sure the Third had preached to your generation. However, I always believed in peace through power, something I disagreed on with the Third Hokage, who believed everyone would naturally want peace. When I made my Flying Thunder God Technique I realized I had the ultimate power. Those kunai I used were merely a distraction from the true potential of the jutsu, a lure to fool my enemies. It was at that point I began to plan the Growth of the Leaf. The Kyuubi through off my plans, and forced me to readjust, and so I left my work to you. The work of taking over the world._

_That may sound dramatic, but the groundwork is already in place. I began the effort the moment I made my technique, expanded it when I became Hokage, and set the final parts into play the night I died. The secret is my technique, the Flying Thunder God. The seals you can teleport to are simple, easily overlooked. I had my most loyal ANBU infiltrator squad leave the Village and Fire Country the night I died to place those seals everyone. If things went according to plan, nowhere is inaccessible. The seal should have been worked into brand names, clothing tags, street signs, carved into every tree, rock, and post. Buildings should have it in their blueprints, plumbers should carve it into pipes, and artists should draw, scribble, and paint it. Even money should carry it. It will be everywhere._

_Imagine the power. To control every Hidden Village, city, town, and Capital. To make all the Kages and Daimyou bow before the Leaf._

_That is the Heritage, the Legacy I have left you Naruto._

_Akame Iwana and the rest of my most loyal squad should be there to tutor and teach you everything you need to know. They are loyal to you and you along, just as they were loyal to me._

_The rest of this scroll explains the jutsu and the contract needed. Learn it and then burn the scroll and hide the contract._

_Remember. Peace through Power! The Leaf is everything! Let all Traitors die!_

_Good Luck my son._

Naruto looked up from the scroll, tears in his eyes. "Is this true? My father really did this for me?"

"Yes he did Naruto. We have spent the last 15 years following your father's last message. We wanted to come back, to argue against the Third's pacifist views that nearly ruined the Village, but we remained faithful. The seal is now everywhere. The power is yours. The rest of the squad is spaced around the village, awaiting your orders."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Good. I will meet with you tomorrow; I have a jutsu to learn."

When Akame Iwana left, Naruto immediately began to study, to learn the technique and uphold his father's beliefs. Memorizing the scroll he immediately destroyed it, for it was too valuable to risk in enemies' hands.

That night, after hours of study, Naruto prepared to sign the contract. The moment he finished wiping his blood on it, his horizons expanded. He could see the millions of seals, dots of light in the darkness overlaying his vision. The entire continent, all the known lands were mapped out in gold dots, potential seals waiting to be used.

And so Naruto embraced the power and prepared to show the world his father's doctrine. Peace though power. Let the traitors die. The Leaf is everything.

The Village Hidden in the Leaf changed the next day when Naruto showed up in front of the Hokage's Tower in a flash of yellow light, carrying Sasuke's corpse, cut cleanly through the neck, with him.

Within the week he was named Hokage, and soon after took the power of the Daimyou. It was easy to take power when he revealed his heritage. It was even easier once he stated his plan, his father's plan, and gained the support of Danzou and his block.

Akatsuki was the first to fall. They had to buy there cloaks from somewhere, and the tags just happened to have the seals on them. It took Naruto less than half a second to flash through over a million seals to find any carried by the different members. Not even Tobi/Madara survived, after all to use his reality bending technique he had to see the attack coming. Zetsu was actually the one that lasted the longest, as he spent most of his time underground where it was impossible to teleport to. Naruto just had to wait for him to come up to eat.

Orochimaru died next, but not without a fight. He was the hardest to kill, even more so then Hidan. Hidan was relatively easy, just cut off a part and teleport away, Naruto dumped the still screaming head into the ocean, utilizing a seal on a boat. Orochimaru, though was much harder. Every cut revealed a new snake he had to decapitate, and a Rasengan worked wonders, grinding away at the various bodies and snakes. Eventually Orochimaru died, worn down and unable to defeat an enemy he could not dodge or hit. The rest of Rice soon followed, all of the Sound ninja being executed as a warning.

Wave came willingly, still remembering the past help Naruto had given them.

The Village Hidden in the Sand and Wind Country were the next targets. Gaara actually willingly gave up power when Naruto arrived to state his demands. And as much as his father's message had changed him, he still wasn't willing to hurt a friend like Gaara, one he had fought and bled for, one that could have easily been him. In return for his loyalty, Naruto gave the entire country to Gaara to govern.

River Country naturally fell, being stuck between the two major powers and not having an actual ninja Village.

Grass and Rain were both easy targets. Rain had been weakened and destroyed by the civil war and the deaths of Akatsuki while Grass had to deal with the constant invasions and foreign ninja.

Lightening fell soon after, not even the trained Jinchuuriki being any use, as Naruto teleported and dumped them onto a little island in the middle of nowhere. Eventually they gave up trying to attack him when he showed up with food and water, and were allowed to go back to their village.

Finally only Earth country and Stone were left on the mainland. Naruto had purposefully left them for last due to the advice of all his senior ninja. It was a cruel psychological trick, allowing news that the Yellow Flash was back, stronger than ever, and that they were the last country left unconquered. All the older ninja were terrified, remembering the way Minato had slaughtered them in the last war, and that fear passed down to the younger generation. In the end, they surrendered without a fight. The Daimyou was mad, but when he was killed in front of his entire court his son sang a much nicer tune.

The last great Ninja Village, Those Hidden in the Mists, was a joke, weakened by the civil war and bloodline purges. Any of their strength had fled with the disbanding of the Swordsmen.

All the other minor countries soon fell.

Rebels rose and fell just as quickly. There was nowhere to hide from someone that could go anywhere.

And so Naruto ruled the Elemental Countries for a long, long time, the Fox keeping him ever youthful, just like his father had planned.

He was truly the Fourth's Legacy.


End file.
